


Riddles In The Dark

by hannibal_rises



Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: BAMF Bilbo, I was lazy with writing the riddles scene, M/M, canon bamf bilbo, gollum is creepy, riddles in the dark, slightly helpless thorin, thorin seeing bilbo be awesome, with thorin watching
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-01
Updated: 2014-05-01
Packaged: 2018-01-21 11:35:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1549121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hannibal_rises/pseuds/hannibal_rises
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Thorin falls after Bilbo and witnesses the Riddles in the Dark chapter. Unable to immediately recover, Thorin is forced to do nothing but watch as Bilbo bargains for their lives in a game of riddles.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Riddles In The Dark

 

The last thing he heard was “Where's the hobbit!?” Let out by Bofur before one of the goblins pushed him just the wrong way and the king under the mountain fell from the bridge, down and down into the darkness. Sure he would die, Thorin made his peace with his father god Mahal and let his eyes close.

He was sure they were mushrooms or something that his bed was of- a queer thing for death to gift him, a bed of mushrooms. As Thorin's eyes and ears opened, however it was not greeted by the brilliant halls of Mandos, nor was he gifted with the reborn view of a mother looking upon him. No, he saw only the dark dampness of a cave- the goblins tunnels. Thorin, however, could not move. His bones refused to respond to his orders to let him sit up, instead they rested to recover from their fall. That was when he heard it, a voice as skin crawling as creation would gift a beast. “If Bagginses looses we eats it whole.” There was a silence in which Thorin spent with his eyes wide and trying to coax his limbs to obey his wishes to move.

“Fair enough.” Was Bilbo's breathy reply. What in Mahal's name would convince Bilbo that that was a good idea in any conceivable version of the word.

The twisted hissing voice that Thorin could never dare what being would create it spoke out mennicingly. “What has roots nobody sees, is taller than trees, up, up it goes and yet never grows.” Thorin's mind wheeled. What on earth was happening? A game of riddles with this beast for Bilbo's life.

“Mountains.” Bilbo's voice sang out confidently, the angry hissing of the creature filled the cave after his answer which Bilbo seemed to simply ignore. “Thirty white horses on a red hill, first they champ, then they stamp, then they stand still.”

What on earth was the hobbit thinking? The answer was simple. “Chesnuts, chesnuts precious... Teethsies!” The beast cried out the answer after thinking, it's voice dropping with coughs of “Gollum! Gollum!” Which simply caused Thorin to cringe as he finally began moving. “Voiceless it cries, wingless flutters, toothless bites, mouthless mutters.”

Bilbo was quiet, the sound of padded feet told Thorin that he was pacing as he very carefully pulled himself up. “Half a moment.” Bilbo said, pacing. “Wind! Wind of course!” The hobbit's voice said, slightly shaking. Thorin couldn't help but wonder what the beast that started this game of riddles with Bilbo was like, or how much fear bubbled inside the small hobbit. “A box without hinges, key or lid, yet golden treasure inside is hid.” Bilbo said, and Thorin wanted to curse him. Of course the beast knew the answer to such a riddle.

The silence that followed made Thorin grow confident though. It seemed the beast was stumped and he managed to let himself look to where he heard Bilbo and the beast. What he saw, he had not expected. Bilbo was a little worse for wear but in one piece weilding his sword at the... thing that hunched itself over a rock, looking around as if it would find the answer on the damp floor of the cave. Bilbo caught his eyes and the Hobbit's eyes widened upon seeing the King. Thorin raised a finger to his lips to signal the hobbit to remain silent about it as his eyes scanned the cave to try and find the exit. He saw it after a minute. No wonder Bilbo hadn't seen it, it was just out of sight from where the Hobbit was standing. Thorin went to motion to the hobbit where the exit was the being exclaimed the answer. “Eggses! Eggses it is!” It explained before crawling on the rock as if looming over the Hobbit who's attention was all stolen by the being. “Alive without breath, as cold as death. Never thirsty, ever drinking. All in mail never clinking.” The Gollum creature practically growled.

Bilbo looked completely stumped, mind distracted by Thorin. Bilbo actually sat, clearing his throat about twice in thought but did not answer. “Is it nice, my preciousssss? Is it juicy?” The creature cooed, shifting closer to Bilbo. “Is it crunchable?”

“Half a moment! I gave you quite a long while.” Bilbo insisted, wracking his brain. Thorin wanted to whisper the answer to Bilbo, but instead he gripped the hilt of his sword as the hobbit looked into the water, exclaiming the answer just in time to enrage the creature who looked more than ready to pounce on the poor hobbit. “Fish! It's a fish of course.” Bilbo said, pointing his sword at the beast.

“It must asks us a question, just one more question my precious.” The creature hissed, slowly climbing at Bilbo.

The hobbit nervously slid his fingers into his pocket, a curious look forming on his face. “What have I got in my pocket...?” Bilbo asked himself rather than the creature, but clearly it did not understand.

“Not fair!” Gollum hissed in distress.

“No! No, you told me to ask you a question and that's my question. What have I got in my pocket?” Bilbo asked, taking his hand out and gripping his sword with both hands.

“It must give us three guesses, precious!” Gollum insisted, glaring at Bilbo. Bilbo simply nodded and watched as the creature paced around, not looking at Bilbo he exclaimed “Handses!” To which he groaned upon looking at Bilbo. “Knife!” It exclaimed before groaning and cursing itself and gripping it's head, falling backward.

“Wrong! Last guess.” Bilbo said, watching as the beast writhed. “Come on!” He insisted, glancing toward Thorin who motioned to show him where the exit was, watching as Bilbo nodded in understanding.

“String or nothing!” The beast hissed as if it were two different people trying to answer.

“Two guesses and both were wrong.” Bilbo said, waving his sword nervously at the beast. “Now you have to let me go.”

The creature continued to writhe before growling. “Let it goes, precious, yes it'll goes...” It growled threateningly reaching for it's pocket before letting out a screech. “Where is it, precious?! Gollum! Gollum! It's lost!” Bilbo immediately looked to Thorin and motioned for the Dwarf to run to the exit while the creature was having a fit. Thorin did so, but not without watching the hobbit from the narrow passage as he heard the creature growl. “What does it have in it's pocketses?” It growled, and Thorin could hear Bilbo running toward Thorin as the creature screamed. “Theif! Bagginses!”

Thorin saw Bilbo run toward him before Gollum jumped at him with a screech. “Bilbo!” Thorin exclaimed, grabbing the Hobbit just in time and running before the creature grabbed the hobbit. They ran and managed to reach a narrow passage Thorin could never be able to slide through, though Bilbo likely could have. “I'm going to break it wider keep it back.” Thorin insisted as he pulled an axe from it's place on his back and started breaking the space wider.

Bilbo turned, heart pounding in his throat as Gollum climbed toward them. “Theif bagginses and it's dwarf Gollum! Gollum! We will eats them both, precious.” It growled running at Bilbo who was suddenly pulled through the larger crack by Thorin before he fell back, the ring flew into the air. Gollum went to leap at him again when suddenly Bilbo disappeared. Gollum let out another screech looking around for Bilbo then looking to Thorin. Light from the exit illuminated in the near hall and after a single look into Gollum's face and seeing the small shift of dirt on the ground, Thorin knew he had to run to the exit.

Gollum chased after him, but as soon as he was into the hallway he saw the company running at him. “Thorin!?” Dwalin's deep voice called in wonder as they ran to him.

“No time! Get out!” Thorin yelled, motioning for them to run out the exit, which the dwarfs and wizard did without a single moment of protest. Thorin looked back where he saw the shining eyes of the Gollum creature who seemed to have no interest in chasing him now. “Bilbo! Come now!” Thorin yelled, watching as the creature's head jerked as if something had hit it and a sudden weight was on Thorin's arm as if someone was gripping it for dear life. They ran quickly down the hill, Thorin panting slightly before he stopped a little before the company, gripping for the invisible Bilbo. “I don't know what happened but let me see you.” Thorin said quietly as he felt Bilbo's arms shift and suddenly the hobbit was in his view.

Thorin let out a heavy sigh and pulled the Hobbit into an awkward embrace just as the company started moving up the hill to try and find them. Bilbo seemed too startled to properly hug back but the hobbit smiled. “If you ever manage to surprise me more than in those moments you will prove to be even more extraordinary than any of us could have imagined.” Thorin said, letting go of Bilbo and gripping the hobbit's shoulders.

“That's the thing about Hobbits. You can know them for a hundred years and they can still surprise you.” Gandalf said, patting the Hobbit's back. The sound of wargs behind them made even Bilbo turn and look back at where the sound was coming from.

“Out of the frying pan.”

“And into the fire.”

 


End file.
